The Wandering Star

The Wandering Star [[Image:{{{picture}}}|200px]] What: The Wandering Star Tagline: HSB on the road Maintainer(s): Wouter, Askarel, ptr_, tazo Archived: yes

Concept

Illuminated by the success of Dragons Everywhere, and a late-nite palaver on the true meaning of 'wandering' (to repeatedly listen to lee marvin's a wandering star, to 'explore romantically',...); we had the idea to build a light and portable server, which serves to connect hsbxl remotely to the conference/hackmeeting/gathering -- so the folks staying at home can organize a little get together and leech the remote resources.

current

the wandering star is scheduled to go to Berlin for the 27C3.

Think of it: last year that project was just words in the air.

Sub-pages

• The_Wandering_Star/Log
• The_Wandering_Star/Setup
• The_Wandering_Star/Software
• The_Wandering_Star/Banner
• The_Wandering_Star/HowToConnect
• The_Wandering_Star/Feedback

Practical

The total case should be usable for 'romantically exploring' the world & 'phone-home' back to the hackerspace, and provide a vpn + ssh + decent storage.

Current status

Build pictures are here.

Coming up next:

• Trimming more Debian fat:
  • Reworking /var: apt cache, log files, spools,...
  • Recompile a new kernel: there is way too much stuff in the stock Debian kernel
  • tmpfs: the more the better. Encrypted swapspace setup coming up next.
• Make it tweet !! It already has a twitter account !
• Install fresh hard disks and test.
• Build the software part (OpenVPN, encrypted disks, remote management,...)
• IMPORTANT: Write a service manual :-)
• Profit !!

The Wandering Star need you !!

The case need a nice decal on the sides: this is your opportunity to add your artistic touch to the project. Use this section to post your artwork. The winner will be chosen during a TechTuesday.

Case dimensions:

• with aluminium frame: 46x33 cm
• Black area only: 43,2x30,3 cm

requirement

hardware:

• Care must be taken during construction: the machine need to be able to withstand some level of reasonable physical abuse. No sloppy or dodgy assembling techniques are allowed.
• Opening that compromise the structural integrity of the case should be avoided. Local reinforcement is needed when there is no alternative.
• Port replication: To protect the connectors of the motherboard, the most used ports need to be replicated to the outside (ethernet, USB, VGA at least).
• Case need to be opened for hardware maintenance or emergencies only.
• Operating system must reside on static storage (compactflash, USB stick,...)
• Air entry hole must have a filter to avoid foreign objects entering the case

basic:

• plug it on the conf' network & provide vpn link to hsb

eventually:

• limited weight & size
• storage (redundant)
• encrypted disks (or some system so the traveler can't be held responsable for the contents of the system)
• gigabit networkinterface
• kensington cable + burglar alarm
• serial terminal interface for config/problemsolving

decisions to be made

• what is 'portable' ? (< 8 kg ?)
• need for encryption ? separate encryption for each user of the system ?
• disaster recovery (recovering data in case of disk failure/system failure)
• how to do configuration (eg. no dhcp at the remote network)
  • Avahi/zeroconf might help here
• network redundancy (if we got mobo with 2 network interfaces - are they both usable?)

technical/architectural specs

at HSB

• openvpn server on tcp 443 (openvpn is on 'Appelblauwzeegroen')
• dyndns for the public ip (hsb.dyndns.info, client is running on the router)

• script to add manually the routes easily

wandering star

• openvpn client
• /etc/network/interfaces post up script to:

1. twitter a message that it's up'n'running
2. start up openvpn

• openvpn auth: using ssl client certificate
• openvpn up script: twitter message that VPN link is active + netmask of conference
• firewall script: masquerade the vpn traffic behind the IP of the box (for us to reach the network)

User management

• A list of valid users will be downloaded from The_Gate, complete with their SSH public keys, passwords and privileges. User management will be done at The_Gate.

what do we have

• aluminum/plastic lightweight flightcase (outside: 33 X 45,5 x 16,5 cm, inside: 31,5 X 44,3 X (9 + 5,1 cover) cm )
• workable atx backplate (that fits the lid) of the proposed case.
• An untested power supply
• An USB extension backplate with 4 USB plugs
• CF -> IDE adapter

storage

so we'll probably end up with a bunch of donated disks, which means:

• it should be easy to add/remove disks as donations come in
• disks will fail one time or another (even if we make fixtures in silicone/gel, they will die due to shocks while travelling)
• disks are of unequal size (being random donations)

• a standard RAID container won't suit our needs: the disks being of unequal size (raid container will be constructed, taking only smallest disk size into account)
• creating a LVM partition, spanning different disks is no solution neither as one dead disk will make the whole volume unusable.
• raid-Z (ZFS) would be nice, but this means we have to go for FreeBSD or OpenSolaris (and removing disks is not possible...)
• tahoe-lafs would be great, but
  • it is a lot of overhead, being a project aimed for cloud storage, so client-server based (not a local fs)
  • i can't get it to run multiple nodes on one machine
• BTRFS recently got included in linux kernel - can be worth a look (as it is the linux anser to ZFS)
  • only mirroring & striping support now though...

On 'wandering'...

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